General Chat

Morning Al,

Dull and grey this morning here. Nothing planned for today soo will se how I g.

F & C's tonight so no cooking.

Still not potted the toms on so thats one job for today and to sow some cues.

Coffee now so be back later.

Hope you all slept well.

Oh you had a nice little shop for a few things AnnG. Sizes of clothes do vary a lot don't they. I suppose they use more suppliers these days and each has their own idea of sizes. We each have a smallish roller case too and they fit nicely in the car without taking up much room. As you say, you can get a week's clothes in one and if you are like us you don't wear a lot of what you take away for a week anyway. I really cut back the last few years of going away and take clothes that will all go together.

Mel that does sound fiddly making those tiny things. I think I would need a good magnifying glass. It is nice when a young couple knuckle down and save to get a house and then enjoy getting it just how they want. Too many won't go without anything to do it though. I waited 4 years for my first house and we really cut back and scrimpted to do it.

I keep meaning to ask Mandy if she got one of those ECO BALLs to try.

A good spend up then Anng and some nice things to wear and keep you busy with your craft when you get home.

I have done some minituring this afternoon. More onions and garlic. It takes so long to make the roots unpicking two strands of tapestry thread from the canvas.

Fancy forgetting a tom plant when you went to the garden centre but a nice lot of other stuff you will be needing soon.

Afternoon all. We went to Car.isle but it was very wet so we couldn’t look at the cathedral or castle. Still I did have a good spend as I bought a small roller case in TKMax. I have benn looking fir one this size fir a while, plenty big enough for a week and easier to fit in the car. I bought a sweater, a summer top and jeans in M&S but the jeans have to go back, no way could I get them done up and yet I am still wearing 16s. Goodness knows why the sizes vary so much. Smame as they were pinky lilac, very pretty. We also stopped in Hobbycraft and spent money there. Then we stopped for lunch on the way back and I had very nice toasted BLT sandwiches and a glass of wine. Went out at ten and got back about four.

Afternoon All,

We were up early for the garden centre this morning. I got a Bishop's Form alpine and one or two other plants, 3 strawberry plants, some compost and tomato feed. I forgot to see if there were any tomato plants though so I hope mine come through soon. I also got some brush pens in greys and black from The Works there.

I mixed a humper of compost Mel some old from the pots, some from last year's bags and a bit of soil all mixed together. I've used it for planting all my seeds and everything else looks healthy so I think it must be the bean seeds. I might get a photo and send it to them once I check who I had them from. I might get an obelisk for my sweet peas which will go in a big pot if I can find one I like that's easy for the peas to latch onto. Some have big gaps and you have to use lots of ties.

I sounds like the talk was interesting Vera. What a nuisance trying to get fuel though and then the card machine playing up when you did find some. I hope the dentist didn't find any work to do!

I hope you get to Carlisle today AnnG and find something nice to buy. The weather's a bit overcast here but dry so I hope it is nice where you are.

Better check the greenhouse now.

A tad patronising there Mel re the delivery driver.
:-S

Suns out now and its really warm out and pc says 10 degrees.

Done the wipe down and it was a nice driver this week our little young Dan who has just bought his first house with his girlfriend. They have just done a new kitchen and its in duck egg blue and he showed me a pic of it and they have made a lovely job of it. So nice when you see a young couple setting up home together. They waited a long while for this little house in Bideford.

Only one sub and that was my cut rolls for their scotch white rolls which we don't klike so they went back. I have 4 for Saturdays burger so that was ok. I thought they would be out of those with the children on holiday.

I'm hungry this mroning too early!!

Morning All,

It rained last night after that nice day with the chilly wind and everywhere looks wet out there this morning so I suppose it rained on and off all night.

I washed the pots out for my tomatoes yesterday but did'nt get them potted on and thye badly need it. That will be one job for today and I must also sow my cues!!!! Must top up the swwet pea tub and get those planted in there and cut down the dead Achimilla out the front as its growing again.

You talk sounds like it really interested you Vera and I am glad you leant something aboiut her too.

Anng enjoy your day at Carlisle and have a spend up.

Good morning AnnG and all

It feels quite mild at the moment and it’s supposed to be a lot warmer today. Yesterday was a nice day but with a very strong wind that made it feel quite chilly. All the washing dried well.

You’ve been busy in the garden Mel. We need to get busy in ours as it’s been a bit neglected this year.

It’s a shame about your beans Ann. I’m having trouble with tomatoes as the few that have come up are still only tiny.

We are having trouble getting fuel. There are half a dozen petrol stations around town and only two had any fuel yesterday. One is near a roundabout and had long queues stretching on to the roundabout and we didn’t think it wise to join the end of that queue. The other was Sainsbury’s. It’s unmanned and a pay at pump place. The pump wouldn’t accept my card even though I had used it five minutes earlier in the shop. I hope we can get some in the next couple of days.

It was a really good talk at the Club last night. The speaker had a good clear voice and spoke without notes and showed plenty of slides. I already knew Josephine Baker was an American born French entertainer who was rather exotic, married several times and that she adopted loads of children. I didn’t know how much she had done with the French resistance and the American Civil Rights movement. She was apparently asked to lead the movement after Martin Luther King was assassinated. It was very interesting.

We have to leave for the dentist just after 9 so I had better stir my stumps. Have a good day everyone.

Good morning daughter has drs appointment this morning just a check up, not sure if for breast cancer or diabetes. Hopefully won’t be long and we may go to Carlisle. Just going to have a shower and wash my hair.

I just thought I would share the song with you so I was'nt the only one with it all day.

Shame about the beans Ann was it fresh compost or some you had over from last year? Sometimes it gets stale and makes the leaves yellow its something to do with the change of the elements in it. When I had the nursary we had a whole batch of pansies that went wrong and it was the compost.

Well I have been out in the garden this morning and cut down the dead clematis that I had cut off earlier by the steps down to the garden and the one on the end of the patio where it meets the decking. Then I cut back my pink aster at the end of the box hedge on the rockery and all the dead bits of the geranium that has covered most of the space up there. Did a wahs and got that on the ine and it was blowing well in the wind. Still very chilly in the wind so I had a fleece scarf over my ears with a fleece hat on the top of that. I was lovely and warm and my ear is a lot better today. This afternoon I cooked cabbage \and potatoes for bubble and squeak tonight with a taody in the old hole and baked beans which we both enjoyed.

Now I am going to watch Gentleman Jack and then go to bed.

Had a piece of chocolate cake made by Grandson with mushrooms instead if flower and it was really nice.

Mandy yes she likes bubbles but she would get through them quickly. Nanny (daughter) took her down to the park just down the path from here and there were other children her age she could play with they apparently had a great time.
Annx yes Keswick was very busy the world and it’s dogs were there. I went in Mountain warehouse and came straight out and waited for the others outside. It was safe enough in the street but nobody was wearing masks in the shops at all I was really surprised.

Annx, what a shame. Contact the company, return unused seeds and a photo or sample of an affected seedling with some of the growing medium. I'm sure they would want to know. As I've said before, I've never had a problem, so far.
I've sowed mine today so I'll let you know how they get on.

Evening all,

Phew I feel whacked I went over the school to help tidy up their gardens where the children can sit and read ,did a lot of digging and pulled up lots of old nettles .
Then after lunch I went shopping came home and cooked a chicken and hoovered through ,think I will sleep well tonight .
The bird table over the school looks a bit tatty so I think Colins going to make a new one for them .

Anng Inara sounds full of energy does she like bubbles perhaps get a bottle of bubbles so she could chase them .

Oh Ann what a shame your beans are like that ,I haven't planted mine yet so I hope they aren't the same ,could you take a photo and send to the seed company might be a batch of bad ones ,you never know they might send you another lot.

Oh Mel that tune will go round in my head too now I had one going round my head the other day ,you just keep humming it .

Oh my bones I think I'm stiffening up .

What a bundle of energy young Inara is! Running and jumping and ready for more and chatter in the car too. She sounds like OH in the car and I love driving on my own sometimes for the peace and quiet without all the questions I have to keep answering. lol. Was Keswick very busy or is it too early in the year yet?

I think there is a problem with my climbing french beans which have all germinated now. There is some wrinkling on the leaves on some and yellow spots on others which looks like a virus to me. What a shame and I don't think I'd better plant the rest of the beans as they are likely to be the same. I think I'll bin them and the soil they are in and order more seed from somewhere else.

I've recorded Gentleman Jack which is back on Sundays on BBC1.

Good afternoon. We drove to Keswick today as we had Inara again and needed a walk to keep her occupied. Another car journey filled with chatter. I was going along thinking of the times I had driven in peace with Tony looking at the mountains and thinking to myself. “Who knew I would end up being ferried around in the back of the car like the children?” Of course I am grateful and such is life but it is still hard.
Anyway we walked down to the theatre by the lake and had coffee. I had crisps and daughter and I had a piece of shortbread between us. We then walked on down the path by Derwent water looking at the boats and ducks and geese until we came to the view point looking across the lake to Cat Bells and other ranges. Unfortunately the sun didn’t shine but it was dry and fairly clear. All the time we are walking Inara is running and jumping she is never still.

On the way back to the town we diverted into Crow park where there is a beautiful view right down the lake so Inara had a lovely run up and down the grassy slopes in the park.. Back along the lane again past the pretty Hope park with its beautiful flower beds and then the crazy golf and pitch and putt Until we reached the town where daughter took I into Mountain Wharehouse and bought her two pairs of trainers reduced in the sale plus socks and a light fleecy top. Detoured into Booths for milk and a couple of things then back in the car home. Lunch a bit late then Nanny took Inara down the park while I stayed writing this. We walked 2.9 miles according to daughter.

Oh that's a great, upbeat song and will be stuck in my head now Mel. My friend and I watched them rehearsing at Stoneleigh Show in the 60s and this was the song they were singing as we stumbled across them as we walked around before the show opened. My friend's mum had taken us with her as she was working doing market research there that day. I loved Mama Cass's voice and how strange that The Who guitarist Keith Moon died in the same room in a flat that she did at 9 Curzon Place, Mayfair.

We were over an hour and a half at the opticians and they only did my eyetest as they said OH only needs one every 2 years now since his cataracts were done. OH pointed out that his last test said to come back in a year and when she checked their records he was right. It seems that was wrong advice now. :-S Anyway, the optician still thinks I am some way off being referred for my cataracts, but decided to refer me anyway when I pointed out the difficulties they are causing. She thinks there is a 6 month wait to be seen, which is half what it is where she comes from in Solihull and then of course another wait before getting them done. They can only say no, in which case I will seriously think about going private.

We had lunch when we got back, so were either in the kitchen or the diner end of the lounge. How annoying then to find a card through the front door from the Royal Mail, saying they had taken a parcel back!! The doorbell is in a plug socket in the kitchen so there's no way we wouldn't have heard it. :-(

Back to my paperwork now, then maybe the walk.

I seem to have this song on my brain this morning so I thought I would share it with you. He he he

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm)
If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day
Stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)
He knows I'm gonna stay (knows I'm gonna stay)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day
All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (on a winter's day)
If I didn't tell her (if I didn't tell her)
I could leave today (I could leave today)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

Morning you two and all,

Its dull and grey here this mroning but I don't think theres much in the way of a breeze or wind which will be good.

Ann I did'nt know about keeping acrylic paint like that I usuall put a little water on it and cover it with cling film but I do now thank you. I have a lot of those Ferrero Rocher boxes as I keep my makes in them and coloured sweet papers and all sorts as they stack nicely in the bookcase.

My earache did'nt keep me awake last night in fact I went to bed just after 11pm as I could'nt keep my eyes open watching the telly so that was really early for me. I woke up at nine so got a good few hours in last night and up just once for the loo.

Morning All,

Quite a dull morning here and 7 degrees. It sounds like you will have a busy time today Vera so be careful with your back. The talk later should be interesting.

It is lovely to watch the lambs this time of year isn't it AnnG. There are a few in the fields on the way to the farm shop here now and they are snowy white next to their mums.

It's eye tests for us at Boots on the retail park down the road this morning and OH has an online meeting this afternoon. I need to sort a maturing investment out and other paperwork. If it stays fine I might move the purple michaelmas daisy to a more suitable place as it isn't a dwarf one like it said and also do some tidying up of the island beds as I have a few new rock plants to put in.

As Vera says, best make a start! :-)